Earlier this week, the Backstreet Boys announced a residency in Las Vegas for this summer and it has caused a rise of the over 20-year debate among the millennials.
With the era of TRL, the debate grew even more with the voting system pinning the groups against each other, which also sparked the rivalry amongst the fans.
When you have two artists that are doing the same thing and dominating the same genre at the same time it is almost certain that there will be a comparison. It happened with Michael Jackson and Prince. It’s happening with Taylor Swift and Beyonce. And it has always been happening with Backstreet and NSYNC.
Debates are what makes artists push harder because they always want to be better than their competition, but the way fans go about the debate makes me really mad.
Personally, I have always been an NSYNC fan. Growing up I heard a lot of NSYNC rather than the Backstreet Boys and that has carried with me until now. One of my closest friends is more Backstreet than NSYNC. She inspired me to get into Backstreet, and my view of the debate has changed.
When I listen to two groups or artists and decide which one is better, I look at the bigger picture. I look at performances, discographies front to back and overall appeal. For this debate, I feel there shouldn’t be one. The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC are very different if we look at it deeper.
Since I didn’t live in that era, I’m not able to base my opinion on details like who was bigger, who dominated the charts, etc. I am only able to base it off of what I’ve researched and listened to. After deep diving their discography, I realized that they are both amazing at certain things.
For example, in my opinion NSYNC’s stronger songs are the upbeat pop songs and Backstreet’s stronger songs are the ballads. Even though both discographies are amazing front to back, they each had their strengths and weaknesses.
Something about the debate that gets me irritated is the hate fans send to the opposing group. Just because you don’t like another group, it doesn’t automatically mean it’s trash or they aren’t talented. It’s just not your taste and that’s okay. The unnecessary hate towards each group is not needed and that’s what makes being in a fandom toxic.
Another point that I’ve realized that makes them different is performance. NSYNC is known for their amazing iconic dance breaks and choreography, but if we look at Backstreet’s videos and performances, dance isn’t a huge thing. This doesn’t make Backstreet less talented than NSYNC. It just made them different.
The last thing I realized is that NSYNC stayed with the pop sound throughout their whole career, while Backstreet by the end of it transitioned to a more R&B sound. This, once again, makes them a bit different. Yes, NSYNC dabbled in other sounds and genres, but by Backstreet’s “Black and Blue” album, you can 100% tell the difference in their style, which I believe made them appeal to different audiences.
Backstreet to me appealed to the older teenagers, while NSYNC appealed to the tweens and mid-teenager age. Think 13 to 16 years old for NSYNC and 16+ for Backstreet. Once again, I didn’t live through this, so I don’t know 100% if this is true, but by researching and watching documentaries, this is what I took from it.
Overall, I don’t think one is better than the other since I get different things from each group. If I want to hear amazing ballads, I go to the Backstreet Boys, and if I wanna hear great pop songs, I reach NSYNC. Debates are always going to happen, but us as fans can appreciate them both without pinning them against each other or bashing each other.